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Purpose: This study introduces a policy with great strategic significance and far-reaching impact by analyzing the background, measures, and future development trends of teacher evaluation reform in China. Design/Approach/Methods: This study primarily conducts a policy text analysis of the section on teacher evaluation of the "Overall Plan for Deepening the Reform of Educational Evaluation in the New Era". Findings: The "Overall Plan for Deepening the Reform of Educational Evaluation in the New Era" was drafted to enhance the quality of Chinese teachers and address many problems in teacher evaluation. It comprised four sections: teachers' professional ethics, teaching effectiveness, evaluation models and methods, and honorary titles. The policy has distinctive features such as the high status and authority of the issuing body, a holistic and systematic nature, and an orientation toward practical issues. This article proposes three major policy foresights: promoting implementation through the force of political trends, giving schools autonomy in teacher evaluations, and implementing progressive reforms. Originality/Value: This study conducted a specialist analysis of the policy in combination with the real scenario and institutional environment of Chinese teacher evaluation, which could encourage international peers to better understand Chinese teacher evaluation policies and promote policy learning and dissemination internationally.

The importance of enhancing social and emotional skills in educational settings has gained prominence, with many countries and organizations embracing the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) framework to equip individuals with the tools needed for shaping a self-identity, emotional regulation, goal achievement, empathy, nurturing relationships, and responsible decision-making and overall well-being. In this paper, we aim to connect the globally acknowledged Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning SEL framework with international policies that underscore the importance of social and emotional skills in the school context. To accomplish this goal, we first provide a brief overview of the key components of the SEL framework. Subsequently, we explore two significant educational policies within the European context. The first policy is the World Health Organization Health Promoting Schools initiative. We present its objectives, a WHO-affiliated program example, the promoted and assessed competencies of students, and its results, connecting its framework with the CASEL SEL approach. The second focus is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Study on Social and Emotional Skills, describing its developmental process and the assessment framework. Finally, we describe the alignment of SEL with these European educational policies and illustrate their role in advancing and improving the evaluation of SEL initiatives in educational environments.

We compare the institutional standards and expectations for English language arts (ELA) educators from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), the leading professional organization in this field, and the state of Georgia. By conducting a critical policy analysis of documents from NCTE and the Georgia Department of Education (GADoE) we sought to understand the tension between standards set for training English education students in institutions of higher education and the standards those teachers would be required to use in Georgia K-12 schools. We analyze these documents through Cooper et al.'s (2004) policy analysis framework, which questions the normative, structural, constituent, and technical dimensions of policy development. We found that the ideological beliefs and values embedded in the policies and documents from NCTE and GADoE have developed divergent sets of expectations for ELA teachers in Georgia, particularly around how teachers respond to oppression in our society; how we understand the overall purpose of ELA instruction; and the scope of responsibilities for educators. We end by presenting implications for educators working among these two sets of policies, in recognizing where these expectations may overlap as well as diverge.

This study explored how 14 higher education and student affairs (HESA) professionals navigated institutional policy vacuums to address interpersonal racial conflict between students. Grounded in perspectives of policy vacuums, findings revealed that HESA professionals learned about racial conflict by referring to their own personal, professional, and academic training. Additionally, they employed strategies that were often self-generated and informal to address racial conflict. The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings, specifically highlighting that relying on HESA professionals' dispositions is an insufficient way to address racial conflict and that more institutional support is necessary to train racially responsive HESA professionals.

Antiblackness is a persistent feature of American society with continued implications for the experiences, outcomes, and well-being of Black communities. In the wake of widespread protests against antiblack police brutality and heightened awareness of racial injustices in 2020, federal, state, and local political actors swiftly began a concerted effort to maintain the illusion of racial progress within the United States. These efforts, which we identify as manifestations of what Carol Anderson (2016) describes as White rage, have taken the form of educational censorship policies that have been successfully enacted in at least 18 states. This study interrogates the policy development process of two such censorship policies in Texas and North Dakota. Drawing on Black critical theory and insights from critical policy analysis, we demonstrate the ways that antiblackness was made legible in the policy development process and conclude with recommendations for combatting the further spread of antiblack educational censorship.

This paper uses critical policy analysis to investigate how the concept of equity has been co-opted to promote a neoliberal agenda in education reforms in Manitoba. Early provincial reform documents contained a narrow definition of equity focused primarily on closing achievement gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. These reform documents were rejected by the public, in part due to concerns about equity. The Manitoba Education Action Plan was introduced in 2022, which more explicitly focused on achieving equity as part of the education reform process. However, the framing of equity in the Action Plan was narrow, emphasizing individualism rather than a more systemic pursuit of equity. While some recommended actions in the Action Plan have promoted a more inclusive and culturally responsive education system, other actions have advanced a neoliberal agenda focused on work-readiness and accountability, while actions to remove barriers to education have been undertaken with limited urgency.

Current education policy in Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa is the country's indigenous Maori name) requires schools and teachers to engage with parents and the school community to enhance student educational experience and achievement. The broad wording in these policy statements allows schools and teachers to tailor their parental engagement practice to specific community contexts. There is, however, little attention given to the built space of the school itself as an aspect of the material context within which parental engagement occurs. This article draws on a case study analysis of a single, bounded primary school in Aotearoa New Zealand, to examine how the school's built environment influences parental engagement. It involves the analysis of plans and other school artifacts, semi-structured interview transcripts of staff and parents, and the mental maps of parents. The findings reveal that multiple meanings are read from built space, with staff at risk of underestimating those readings and their agency to author new stories that better support parental engagement.

Universities across the globe are considering how to effect meaningful change in their higher education (HE) delivery in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting student learning preferences. This paper reports on a descriptive case- study of whole-of-institution curriculum reform at one regional Australian university, where more traditional 13-week semesters have been replaced with a 6-week immersive block model known as the Southern Cross Model. Based on a synthesis of literature in best practice HE pedagogy and principles, the case study draws on both a review of policy and staff interviews (N = 5) to outline the key changes necessary for successful HE transformation. Analysis revealed themes related to the vital roles of leadership, capacity building, monitoring the transition, staff adoption, and adequate technical systems in implementing a radical, multifaceted institutional transformation. Implications for practice at institutions considering reforming their curriculum model are also discussed. The findings from this case study indicate that an institutional transformation to an immersive block model requires both a considered change in institutional policy and process, as well as the appropriate resourcing of roles, governance committees, technical solutions, and, importantly, communities of practice.

Academic resilience is crucial in today's crisis-prone society. This qualitative study explored the factors that shaped academic resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic to strengthen the global literature on resilience and post-pandemic policy and practice in education. This study adopted a multiple-case study design, with the application of replication logic and data collection via semistructured interviews. The case studies featured interviews with three academically resilient students in Phuket and nine relevant informants, including parents, homeroom teachers, and local stakeholders. These interviews covered various factors surrounding personal qualities, families, peer groups, schools and teachers, communities and cultures, and the pandemic. Through thematic analysis, seven overarching themes emerged from the data: (1) achievement-oriented characteristics, (2) high aspirations, (3) COVID-19-driven adaptability, (4) self-directed learning in the use of online resources, (5) healthy family functioning, (6) role models, and (7) social support in the context of a giving culture.

This article examines the power dynamics underpinning performance management at a selected South African university. It specifically employs Michel Foucault's (1977) ideas on Governmentality to interpret the envisioning of performance management in this context at the level of Policy. The study employed a qualitative research methodology to address the questions at hand. Data were generated from one primary source: a discourse analysis of the Performance Management Policy (2013) at a selected university in South Africa. Using Michel Foucault's (1991) theories on governmentality, a discourse analysis of Performance Management Policy documents was conducted with the goal of critically interrogating the kinds of new academic subjectivities being created in South African higher education. The findings show that the Policy on Performance Management at the university in question works towards creating academic subjects which conform with the university's expectations and are consistently self- regulated. Findings also show that management of academics is constantly controlled and regulated by a powerful matrix of governance, comprising the university and the wider global community. This paper recommends that performance management discourses should take into stronger cognizance the matter of academic freedom and autonomy. We further recommend that Policy developers and management teams at universities be conscious of the complex forces of power that shape academic identities so that their policies move away from oppressive discourses. We argue that there is much we can learn from governmentality theory if we hope to build more just and equitable societies going forward.

States and districts share an obligation to provide Multilingual Learners (MLLs) with access to high quality language programs that are proven to be effective in minimizing opportunity gaps between MLLs and non-MLLs. This article reviews how local education agencies (LEAs) allocated their state-issued funding to improve MLL language programs and increase student outcomes. Findings reveal that of the total state-issued MLL funding, LEAs used 88.7% on teacher salaries and benefits, 5.1% on teacher professional development, 4.9% on language program implementation, 0% on language program evaluation, and a small percentage of funding remained unspecified. Collectively, these findings indicate that LEAs did not adhere to the state's funding policies, nor did the state follow their own policies to regulate the LEAs' expenditures. We close with a discussion on how the state can improve their function as an organizational leader and serve as a model for other stakeholders in the shared obligation of the education of MLLs.

In 2021, Illinois became the first state in the United States to require that K-12 students learn about Asian American history. Illinois achieved this when lawmakers passed House Bill 376 (H.B. 376), colloquially known as the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act. H.B. 376 received praise for being the first legislation of its kind, and its passage inspired similar bills in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Given the bill's influence, it is imperative to consider its language and utility. This critical policy analysis specifically investigates lawmakers' employment of the term "Asian American." The analysis ultimately argues that H.B. 376 is a necessary first step in breaking centuries of silence and dislocation for Asian Americans; however, the bill advances a social definition--or sociopolitical understanding--of "Asian American" that is potentially harmful.

This article argues that special and inclusive education policies in Nepal have been influenced by neoliberal policy reforms. The study employs discourse analysis as a theoretical perspective to analyse the effects of market-based schooling practices on students with disabilities in Nepal. The findings of this study are informed to some extent by the outcomes of the doctoral research project (Thapaliya, 2018). Data was collected through policies and documents. A selection of key education policies and documents between 1990 to 2020 were examined and analysed. One core theme and five sub-themes were identified from the data analysis. Disability as a resource management issue was a main theme. (i) Managing resources; (ii) resource allocation criteria; (iii) professional experts deciding resource funds; (iv) competing for limited resources; and (v) competition and school choice were sub-themes. The available evidence signals that the marketisation model of education does not assist students with disabilities adequately. The findings of this study reveal that the current policy and practice signal changes in government structure rather than working to fulfil these commitments in the everyday practice of students with disabilities. The limitations of the study and recommendations of this research are also discussed.

In its pursuit of global university rankings, Indonesia introduced a series of higher education policies, one in 2014 to grant autonomy to a select group of universities, and another in 2017 to tie financial and promotional incentives to scientific publications for all researchers. To examine scientific productivity surrounding these policies, we use bibliometric data from Scopus spanning three decades from 1990 to 2020. We investigate the patterns of publication and collaboration and analyze them across journal quartiles, academic fields, and researcher cohorts. Our findings reveal that publications increased dramatically for both autonomous and non-autonomous higher education institutions after 2014. Single-university authorship was common practice and skewed publication quality towards Q3 and Q4 journals, while co-authorships with foreign organizations pulled the shift towards Q1 journals consistently across all fields. New researchers starting in 2014 published fewer Q1 and more Q3 and Q4 publications than the earlier cohort. We highlight policy implications on the need for a balance between publication quantity and quality and call on Indonesian policymakers to introduce holistic higher education reforms rather than introducing reforms that focus on the performance of the university for ranking purposes.

Over the last three quarters of a century, international guidelines and regulations have undergone significant changes in how children are problematised as participants in biomedical research. While early guidelines enacted children as vulnerable subjects with diminished autonomy and in need of special protection, beginning in the early 2000s, international regulatory frameworks defined the paediatric population as vulnerable due to unaddressed public health needs. More recently, ethical recommendations have promoted the active engagement of minors as research partners. In this paper, I adopt a post-structuralist approach to policy analysis to examine deep-seated assumptions and presuppositions underlying the changes in the problematisation of children as biomedical research participants over time. While biomedical research ethics focuses on the autonomy and vulnerability of minors, ethical guidelines are situated in specific sociocultural contexts, shaped, among other things, by contingent public health needs and changing conceptions of the value of research and science for society. In the process, I demonstrate the challenge of moving away from an approach that in taking adults as the model overshadows the complexity of children's lived experiences as well as their personal, cultural, and social lives. The lack of acknowledgement of this complexity makes children vulnerable to epistemic injustice, which is particularly crucial to address in public involvement initiatives.

In this study, I explore the discourse surrounding parental rights in U.S. public schools, with Virginia as a focal point. Analyzing two sets of model policies regarding the treatment of transgender students--one established under a Democratic governor and another implemented following the election of a Republican candidate championing parental rights--this research employs qualitative content analysis to gain insight into the contemporary parental rights movement in educational settings. Five key themes emerged: 1. Reliance on expert opinions; 2. Variation in depth and breadth of information within policies; 3. Transgender student inclusion in policies; 4. Student and parent focus imbalance; and 5. Adherence to legal intent. The findings indicate a shift in emphasis from addressing gender identity concerns to prioritizing parental rights, with ramifications for the broader political landscape. This research enriches the ongoing dialogue on the role of parents in education and the consequences of the conservative parental rights movement for educational policy.

The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is based on a quantitative and accumulative understanding of time, which increasingly frames academic practices and notions of learning in higher education (HE). By example of a recent Danish policy reform, the article explores the connections between the ECTS, new institutional practices, and altered ideas of learning and academic achievement in HE. First, it shows how the ECTS is entangled with a notion of learning and academic achievement as a linear and well-ordered practice, which is determined by the clock. Second, it exemplifies how institutions in Denmark have used the ECTS as a framework for micro-governing students' time by prescribing activities that students should undertake on an hourly basis to meet the requirements of a 42-hour study week. Third, it calls for discussion of the functionalist image of learning and academic achievement as a clean and univocal process that is rational, foreseeable and finite, which the ECTS imposes on HE.

This study synthesized the effect of performance-based funding (hereafter, PBF) through multi-stages of a systematic literature review based on 36 articles. In addition, this study analyzes how policy design relates to the effectiveness of PBF in individual states. Similar to other meta-analyses, this study found that PBF policy is not effective in improving completion and equity of higher education institutions in the US. Further, this study assumed that there might be some positive effects of PBF on institutional performance in the states that maintained it for more than seven consecutive years. Specifically, this study assumed that some policy details such as institutional types, funding method (baseline or bonus), share of funding linked to institutional performance, and funding metrics were related to policy effects. However, this systematic review found that a majority of evaluative studies arrived at inconclusive results across different types of policy designs. One notable finding is that 2-year institutions show more positive results than 4-year institutions. In addition, this study found that statistically significant effects are both positive and negative. Based on the findings of the selected evaluative studies, this review concluded that PBF policy is not very successful in improving institutional performance across different types of policy designs in each state.

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the motivations that key policy documents have put forward as justifications for Sweden's mother-tongue instruction in immigrant and historical minority languages as a multicultural policy that has endured for nearly half a century. The diachronic development of these motivations is analysed in four periods and interpreted with the help of Ruiz's (1984) orientations in language planning. The corpus consists of 26 key policy documents making up the coordinative discourse among policy actors. Based on an innovative mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, the motivations are presented in a three-tiered taxonomy consisting of motivational units, themes and language-planning orientations. The results point to both continuity and change in how mother-tongue instruction has been justified over time. Confirming previous research, the results show that the language-as-resource orientation has played a central role in justifying both the establishment and the maintenance of mother-tongue instruction in Sweden and that language as right complemented this orientation. Furthermore, the study illustrates that the language-as-problem orientation need not always be detrimental to bilingualism and minority-language maintenance. Contrary to some claims in the literature, it is argued that language as extrinsic resource is not necessarily underpinned by neoliberalism, as there are also social liberal and conservative inroads to this orientation. The paper concludes that although the language-as-resource orientation plays an indispensable role in supporting bilingualism in education, not only the language-as-right orientation but also the language-as-problem orientation should not be neglected.

The value of Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) for school and system improvement is widely acknowledged in education research and policy. Still, the question of how learning happens for teachers and education leaders involved in PLNs remains largely unanswered. Moreover, little research exists on the increasing number of international networks for professional learning developed among education systems globally. This case study explores one such network, which we identify as a Global Learning Network (GLN), the ARC Education Project. ARC describes itself as a self-funded network of policymakers, scholars, and system leaders from a range of national and state-level systems with a shared commitment to equity, excellence, wellbeing, inclusion, sustainability, democracy, and human rights. Employing content analysis, we analyze observational notes and materials from ARC summit meetings, joint statements issued by ARC systems, membership records, and other key ARC documents. We draw from Rodway and Farley-Ripple's (2020) application of social network theory to examine this GLN as a relational space, given the challenges of global collaboration. We consider five key components of PLN efficacy: collaboration, sense of purpose, reflective professional inquiry, leadership, and boundary crossing. Specifically, we interrogate how the boundedness of ARC's membership mediates opportunities for the construction of new knowledge in the network. We conclude with implications for professional learning in global networks.

This article considers how neoliberalism has created a reductionist view of lifelong learning in the UK focused on upskilling workers for the labour market. This critical policy analysis uses Marx's theory of labour-power, as conceptualised by Glenn Rikowski, to examine the Skills and Post-16 Education Act, 2022 and to identify its ideological roots, its distribution of power, resources and knowledge, and the potential effect it will have on inequality. Findings indicate that while the Act aims to make it easier for adults to study more flexibly, not all adults will have the labour-power attributes and financial resources to access the higher-level qualifications prioritised for funding. This article argues that the Act represents a general deepening of neoliberalism in lifelong learning that will further stratify adult education and increase inequalities. This article concludes that policy has shifted from widening participation in lifelong learning linked to social enrichment and the development of democratic citizenship, to widening participation in higher levels of education and training aimed at enhancing labour-power for the capitalist labour market.

We use event history analysis on an aggregate dataset from 1997 to 2018 to understand the state-level antecedents associated with the adoption of test-based grade retention policies. Findings indicate that the educational conditions of a state to be more predictive of retention policy adoption than the political, economic, and geographic measures. In particular, a greater share of Black students in a state, lower fourth grade NAEP reading proficiency rates, and larger student enrollments in the early grades were all associated with increased odds of grade retention policy adoption.

Despite the movement toward post-new public management in western countries, the new public (NPM) management model is still a popular managerialism adopted in many countries where the history of neoliberal governance is relatively short. While the principal-agent theory has been primarily used for analyzing education policy within the NPM context, previous studies have called for a better understanding of the principal-agent relationship when multiple agents behave strategically and consider other agents' behaviors. With an emphasis on the principal's role in designing a mechanism to generate desired outcomes using gamification, this article explores concepts for further research on policy evaluation in higher education. By contextualizing a theory-based evaluation of South Korean college admissions reform, I present a conceptual framework that better represents the dynamic relationship between a single principal and multiple agents and draws implications from the government's policy modification in obtaining the intended outcomes. This conceptual framework opens up new directions for research on educational policy, which calls for an alternative account of the responsibility of a principal in avoiding policy failure.

Corporal punishment (CP), or inflicting pain through spanking, hitting, and paddling, is still legally sanctioned and exercised in U.S. schools. We use critical discourse analysis and draw on state policy documents and data from the Office of Civil Rights to investigate which discourses pervade policy texts and how CP is practiced. These sources reveal discourses relating to morality, delinquency, and authority that draw on ideas associated with power, punishment, and control. Across all these discourses, we find color-evasive and deficit language to justify CP practices that are disproportionally applied to minoritized students. We conclude with policy implications for CP and school discipline more broadly.

This article develops a framework for understanding and analyzing the intermediary work of platform technologies, and their owners, as an emerging form of platform governance in educational systems. Our investigation is guided by two questions: (a) How do platform technologies shape policy by brokering relations among commercial, technical, and educational actors? And (b) how might these relations contribute to, or compromise, educational equity as they are folded into existing governance regimes? We address these questions by bringing together two critical orientations--critical policy analysis and critical platform studies--to map the power and politics of platformization in and across education systems.

In this critical, political discourse analysis, we trace how two concepts, equity and quality, became discursively linked and contested in the administration of postsecondary education policy over time (1968-1994) -- a developmental process we refer to as (e)quality politics. By engaging in a historical analysis, we investigate (a) the racialized political origins and discursive processes by which arguments over educational "quality" are advanced as part of an antiequity policy paradigm and (b) how this paradigm reinscribes racial inequity into administrative and organizational action over time. We illustrate how, once an (e)quality politics paradigm is established, racialized policy designs can persist, even in the absence of explicit references to racialized social constructions of target populations in later periods of policy development.

Various scholars have confirmed that teacher safety against learner victimization is a growing concern worldwide, and this problem is exacerbated by a lack of understanding and readiness to implement policies to address this matter. In this regard, policy implementation by middle leaders (MLs) in creating safe school environments has attracted much less interest as a possible way of addressing issues of teacher safety and the prevention of learner victimization. MLs are regarded as individuals who have the potential to lead, plan, inspire and persuade, and in so doing, they are in an ideal position to translate policy into practice. As such, this paper provides a qualitative policy document analysis of The National School Safety Framework (NSSF) premised on the theory that every individual in the school experiences safety in dissimilar ways and has unique safety needs. The NSSF is endorsed by the Department of Basic Education to guide in addressing issues of violence and safety in South African schools. Underpinned by the rational choice theory and utilizing policy document analysis, texts in the NSSF were analysed and interpreted to propose transformative policy strategies that can assist MLs in managing teachers' safety at schools more effectively. The findings suggest that administrative duties and a lack of time make it difficult for MLs to create a safe and supportive learning environment in schools. Another finding was that there is no clear plan outlined in the NSSF to guide MLs to pursue teacher safety against learner victimization in schools. To assist MLs, this paper proposes transformative policy strategies that can assist them in promoting teacher safety and preventing learner victimization in schools. The paper recommends that more explicit interpretation and implementation strategies be communicated with schools to assist them in fighting the war against violence in schools.

The purpose of this study is to explore the current status of micro-credentialing policies and practices in Middle Eastern and North African universities. Using a quantitative approach and a comprehensive questionnaire based on recent work by the Australasian Council on Open, Distance, and e-Learning (as reported by ACODE, Survey of micro-credentialing practice in Australasian universities 2021: An ACODE Whitepaper--October 2021, 2021), the study investigates areas such as standards, policies, adoption rates, integration into the curriculum, credentialing engines, and professional development. The findings indicate that micro-credentialing is still in its early stages in the region, with most universities initiating micro-credentialing within the past four years. The lack of a favorable policy ecosystem and standards for learning design, content, delivery, assessment, sizing, and issuance are identified as significant hindrances to the adoption of micro-credentials. To advance the micro-credential market, the study recommends that stakeholders collaborate and create quality standards, accountability mechanisms, financing strategies, and documentation frameworks that promote interoperability. The study suggests that improving policies for micro-credentials could help legitimize them and promote a more unified vision of micro-credentials as a crucial component of the national educational strategy.

This article is aimed at analysing the modes in which educational instruction and equality are joined together in the official pedagogic discourse in Argentina during the period 2003-2019. This short period encompasses two moments of engaging in debates over the nature of this articulation--namely, the presidencies of Néstor Kirchner followed by Cristina Fernández (2003-2105) and that of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019). The analysis will be constructed through conceptual tools and methodologies arising from a political analysis of the discourse and will involve a set of documents that constitute expressions of the official discursiveness on the national level. The trajectory realised in this review considers three political-pedagogical antagonisms throughout the length of the period analysed: regarding (i) the idea of equality in official discourse, (ii) pedagogy as specific language for the construction of educational policies, and (iii) the degree of politicizing in the training and work of teachers.

This article aims to serve as an introductory discussion of the European Continental tradition of pedagogics, specifically from a North American perspective. It begins with an overview of the Continental tradition and its main figures. Here, we find a philosophical and, thus, language-sensitive attitude toward the human, the child; and a specific pedagogical terminology, i.e., descriptions and interpretations about the reality of education, such as educational practices, goals, norms, and organizational forms of educational institutions. John Dewey's educational theories exemplify the North American perspective on Continental pedagogics and its study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. Dewey's writings diverge notably from this tradition, as he integrated into his work American pragmatism and an interest in the scientific method, an interest that plays a role in today's policy trends in the United States and elsewhere. Then again, Dewey took a critical stand toward instrumentalizing pedagogics for political aims. On this point, the German-born political philosopher Hannah Arendt agreed with him. As Arendt can be seen as an example of a Continental perspective on philosophy that includes a strong warning to separate politics and education, she relates to Dewey's argument against instrumentalization. Thus, this article also features some of her work. The overall intention is to contribute to a renewal of a language for pedagogics by delineating a historical-philosophical perspective on this specific field of professional practice.

We employ a policy assemblage, mobilities, and mutations framework to analyze the geographies that constitute and reflect educational policy circulation at the regional or supranational level in trans-regional regimes and/or quasi-federal polities such as the European Union (EU) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Recognizing that policies are mobile in a fragmentary fashion as they are re/dis/assembled in specific ways, places, and purposes, we move beyond methodological nationalism and pay attention to the make-up of policies as they are in motion and the places they affect. In other words, using the trans-regional and/or quasifederal level, we juxtapose the tensions between policy as fixed, territorial, or place-specific against the dynamic, regional, and relational policy elements. Methodologically, we use a comparative federalist lens to trace and examine the distillation, translation, and mobilization of education policy across and between quasi-federal polities. In this sense, epistemologically, we further explicate the manner in which such policy instruments move across the various interconnected units and sites composing these federal-type entities, while (re)territorializing and deterritorializing what we construe as complex educational assemblages. We show that contra to the extant literature, in Europe/EU and the Caribbean/CARICOM, movement, and mobility involves the connectivity between policymaking sites, and policies arrive at their destination in the same form as they appeared elsewhere, allowing for forms of discursive isomorphism.

This contribution takes up and discusses topology as a relational approach to better understand and empirically trace policy mobilities in federal education systems. While topology echoes other relational approaches in its simultaneous focus on ongoing change and the "making" of stabilized forms (e.g., policy scales), it also brings attention to facets of policy mobility research that other approaches have, at least so far, considered to a much lesser extent. Such facets include the systematic integration of a "temporal dimension" (e.g., rhythms of scale- or policy-making) as well as the consideration of "digital/data space-times." Equally, topology reminds us that policy itself is increasingly becoming "topological"--that is to say, policy-making is increasingly ruled by movement spaces, logics of connectedness, and capacities for change, instead of formal authority, position, or transmission. Integrating these different dimensions into a heuristic framework, we illuminate what we see differently when applying a topological lens to policy mobility analysis in federal education systems, using the example of German education policies since the 2000s, particularly transformations induced by the ongoing pandemic, as a case study.

Global policy mobilities have been studied predominantly at the national level of education, but their implications and effects at the subnational level have been disregarded. This paper analyzes Proyectá tu Futuro, the first social impact bond (SIB) for education and employability implemented in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since 2010, SIBs have become a booming type of policy, rapidly traveling and being adopted across countries and policy spheres. SIBs aim to align the incentives of the private sector--the third sector--and the public sector to obtain results while improving public-policy efficiency. However, often it is policy entrepreneurs' agendas and not results or efficiency goals that trigger SIBs' adoption. In this study, we analyze the diffusion of SIBs as policy mobilities and the processes of adoption and translation in the context of Buenos Aires. To this end, we draw on an analysis of policy documents, existing legal frameworks, and interviews with key actors. Our findings point to the role of "glocal" policy entrepreneurs as key agents for the adoption and translation of SIBs, as well as their capacity to advance their own agendas in the context of global policy mobilities in federal education systems.

School choice policies have become a prominent feature of K-12 education in recent decades, reflecting the broader institutionalization of market-based political ideology in education. In this qualitative multiple case study, we draw on framing theory and interviews with 57 state-level education policy actors to explore the nature of the continued debate over school choice in five U.S. states. We find five patterns of framing choice as beneficial, centering around five purported goals-- quality, equity, liberty, plurality, and innovation--along with critiques of these frames. Our findings illustrate that despite the contested nature of these policies, the broad appeal and flexibility of "choice"' helps to explain its durability.

School choice policies have become a prominent feature of K-12 education in recent decades, reflecting the broader institutionalization of market-based political ideology in education. In this qualitative multiple case study, we draw on framing theory and interviews with 57 state-level education policy actors to explore the nature of the continued debate over school choice in five U.S. states. We find five patterns of framing choice as beneficial, centering around five purported goals--quality, equity, liberty, plurality, and innovation--along with critiques of these frames. Our findings illustrate that despite the contested nature of these policies, the broad appeal and flexibility of "choice"' helps to explain its durability.

This study aims to illustrate how states include an improvement science approach to educational improvement in their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state plan. Through a qualitative content analysis of 52 state ESSA plans, we propose an introductory organizational typology to categorize states based on their explicit inclusion of improvement science-related terminology in their plan. Our typology included three categories: Non-Presence, Emergent Presence, and Presence. Our findings suggest that states varied in how much improvement science language was included in their state plans. Findings also show there is little evidence of geographic diffusion of improvement science policy. This research connects a practice to policy gap highlighting educational stakeholders including educational professionals are increasingly using improvement science to address pressing problems of practice in their contexts in service of making the educational system more equitable; however, improvement science language is rarely included through the formalized state ESSA plans.

Education reform in the United States has unwisely focused attention on standards and accountability to the state as determined by standardized testing (Berliner & Biddle, 1995; Mehta, 2013). Stemming from the emphasis on standards-based accountability are the ideas of rapid school "turnaround" and the state's role in this process (Peck & Reitzug, 2014; VanGronigen & Meyers, 2019). The current study employed critical policy discourse analysis to examine the media's portrayal of the 2019 determination to continue or terminate state control of the Little Rock School District. The analysis highlights two argumentative frames--one that emphasized neoliberal values in support of continued state control of the district and another that focused on systemic racism as the basis for advocating for local control of the district. These frames, along with their implications for future actions within the educational policy making process, guide the discussion. Our findings suggest sustained community and media participation is needed to bring attention to education policy issues while underscoring the importance of taking a critical stance to assess media coverage.

The three terms comprising the Obama and Trump presidencies provide an opportunity to understand the evolution of race-conscious education policy in an increasingly multiracial, unequal, and divided society. Through document review and interviews with civil rights lawyers, government officials, congressional staffers, and intermediary organization personnel, we sought to understand how Obama officials envisioned and changed the role of the federal government in fostering K-12 race-conscious educational policies and what mechanisms they used to advance priorities. We also explored changes Trump administration officials made to federal civil rights policies and through which institutional means. Our findings reveal through-lines between past and present political agendas and the methods for enactment. Obama's interagency efforts to reinvigorate civil rights oversight and enforcement in education harkened back to the mid-1960s era of bipartisan cooperation around school desegregation. Yet the decades-long legal and policy retrenchment against civil rights advances made in the 1960s constrained further progress. Trump's administration advocated for the privatization of public education through increased choice and opposed race-consciousness in education law and policy. The reshaping of the federal judiciary under Trump presents challenges for race-consciousness in the law for years to come. Recognizing these consistent through-lines and constraints will be essential for advocates and policymakers going forward.

Policy change is an integral part of the modern education policymaking process. Policy changes can be done with different tools, one of which lies in policy transfer. The cons and pros of the education policy change and transfer can be seen comprehensively in post-socialist states, as the education system changed fundamentally in line with transferring policies and its aims, content, and instruments. The article deals with the process of education policy transfer and change based on the National Assessment and Examination Center (NAEC) case of Georgia. Based on the orthodox framework proposed, elaborated with the policy change concept, the article tries to determine the links between policy change and policy transfer and to identify facilitating and hindering factors of education policy change in the case of NAEC. Results show that all hindering factors are more or less linked to Soviet Inertia and post-soviet heritage: societal fears and pressure and the supra-centralization way of policymaking slow down the path of education policy transfer. However, if political, financial, and organizational support, both from outside and inside the country, coincides, it is more likely that education policy transfer and change to be successful. The article's findings can benefit the education policy theory in terms of developing and criticising the proposed assumptions, focusing on either post-soviet education transformation or policy administration.

As resegregation occurs across the country, some school districts are pursuing voluntary integration. This qualitative case study uses critical policy analysis to explore the political and social contexts surrounding the early stages of developing a voluntary integration plan in Wake County Public School System, North Carolina. Through analysis of interviews with school board and community members as well as a range of documents, findings indicate that population growth and residential development, the proliferation of unregulated school choice, varied perspectives of community stakeholders, inequitable distribution of power and resources, and school board politics largely shape the process of developing a voluntary integration plan. Recommendations are provided for school district policies, cross-sector collaboration, and state-level policies that could strengthen the potential success of voluntary integration plans.